If you are making jerky at home in the oven, there are several ways to lay out your meat to turn in into jerky. Here are the most common options and the pros and cons associated with each.

1. Baking sheet - just put your meat directly on a baking sheet and directly in the oven. This method is about the simplest since most people have baking sheets in the kitchen already. So, no additional tools are needed. The only thing to be aware of using this method is that since half of the surface area of your meat will be directly in contact with the baking sheet, air will only flow over the top side of your meat requiring you to flip the jerky several times throughout the process for an even drying process. So, it's the least expensive method but requires the most work.

2. Baking sheet with a wire rack - by adding a wire rack to your baking sheet fixes the airflow problem that exists with simply putting the meat directly on the baking sheet. You can pick up a wire rack at any walmart or target...and you can use it for many other things in the kitchen. They are usually between $10-20, so, it's not a bad addition to any kitchen.

3. If you are making whole muscle jerky, you can hang your jerky from your racks inside of your oven using toothpicks. Just use a baking sheet on the bottom rack of your oven to catch all of the drippings from your meat as your jerky dries.

*TIP - you can use parchment paper to line your baking sheet to make clean up a breeze.